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Remaining Gap in HIV Testing Uptake Among Female Sex Workers in Iran

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Abstract

We estimated the prevalence of recent HIV testing (i.e., having an HIV test during the last 12 months and knew the results) among 1295 HIV-negative Iranian female sex workers (FSW) in 2015. Overall, 70.4% (95% confidence intervals: 59.6, 79.3) of the participants reported a recent HIV testing. Concerns about their HIV status (83.2%) was reported as the most common reason for HIV testing. Incarceration history, having >5 paying partners, having >1 non-paying partner, receiving harm reduction services, utilizing healthcare services, and knowing an HIV testing site were significantly associated with recent HIV testing. In contrast, outreach participants, having one non-paying sexual partner, and self-reported inconsistent condom use reduced the likelihood of recent HIV testing. HIV testing uptake showed a ~2.5 times increase among FSW since 2010. While these findings are promising and show improvement over a short period, HIV testing programs should be expanded particularly through mobile and outreach efforts.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the study participants whom provided important information to public health practice and research. We gratefully acknowledge the dedication of all the provincial supervisors, facilities’ staff and outreach team, and support team efforts of Maryam Esmaili, Leila Mostafavi and Azam Valipour.

Funding

This study and the authors were supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Additional support was received from CDC-Iran, University of California, San Francisco’s International Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Studies (ITAPS), U.S. NIMH, R25 MH064712 (Ali Mirzazadeh).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Mostafa Shokoohi, Atefeh Noori, Mohammad Karamouzian, Hamid Sharifi, Razieh Khajehkazemi, Samira Hosseini-Hooshyar & Ali Mirzazadeh

  2. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

    Mostafa Shokoohi

  3. School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Mohammad Karamouzian

  4. Research Center for Modeling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    Razieh Khajehkazemi

  5. Shiraz HIV/AIDS Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran

    Parvin Afsar Kazerooni

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Noushin Fahimfar

  7. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

    Ali Mirzazadeh

Authors
  1. Mostafa Shokoohi
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  2. Atefeh Noori
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  3. Mohammad Karamouzian
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  4. Hamid Sharifi
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  5. Razieh Khajehkazemi
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  6. Noushin Fahimfar
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  7. Samira Hosseini-Hooshyar
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  8. Parvin Afsar Kazerooni
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  9. Ali Mirzazadeh
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Correspondence to Ali Mirzazadeh.

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Shokoohi, M., Noori, A., Karamouzian, M. et al. Remaining Gap in HIV Testing Uptake Among Female Sex Workers in Iran. AIDS Behav 21, 2401–2411 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1844-0

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